I have a question and I hope that some of you can calm my fears.
(On a side note, I suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Attacks, so bear with me while I explain my situation)
I am 26 years old, female, mother of two children, and otherwise in good health. Annual blood physicals show no issues and no anemia, vitamin deficiencies, etc...
For the past 9 years (yes, I know...) I have been experiencing rectal bleeding off and on. Streaks on the stool but not IN the stool, bright red, and occurring probably weekly. No mucus, however sometimes the urge to have a bowel movement comes on so suddenly that I literally have to ask my husband to pull the car over in the next 5 minutes or I may not be able to make it. That only has happened a couple of times. I think that the fear of having an "accident" on myself makes the urges worse and causes the panic (see psychological disorder above).
When I do have a bowel movement, they are not usually hard and I am rarely constipated. I am honestly terrified to go the doctor, for fear that I may have cancer, although I do realize that at my age that is unlikely. I have never been through any sort of sedation in my life, and the thought of being not coherant also scares me.
The reason I am posting my symptoms to the Colitis thread is I recently found out that my father suffered for several years from Ulcerative Colitis prior to his death from completely unrelated causes in 1995. Do these symptoms correlate to UC, or possibly Crohn's? Or, is cancer a real possibility?
As I said, I am really scared and I have two sons who I love dearly, and I am just really nervous. Logically I know that I will have to go get some sort of treatment one day or another, I just need some sort of reassurance.
Thanks.